Student assaulted while jogging in Pacific Spirit Regional Park

RCMP spent three weeks investigating an assault in the same University of B.C.-area park where a woman was slain four years ago before appealing to the public for help finding the suspect.

An 18-year-old student was jogging in Pacific Spirit Regional Park April 1 when she was assaulted, two days before a news conference marking the fourth anniversary of a trail runner's unsolved murder in a different area of the same park.

Sgt. Peter Thiessen said police waited three weeks before alerting the public to the assault because "there was a lot of investigative steps to be taken" and "we felt the public risk was mitigated to some degree.

"We're not going to get into the details of that, but now was the time we felt was appropriate and investigatively prudent to seek the public's assistance," Thiessen said.

On the trail where the attack happened, recent commerce graduate Elisha Allen, 21, said Wednesday she runs the campus trails three to four times a week and wants to know as soon as there is an assault like the recent one.

"Especially for women running alone, it's important to know if there's a threat in the area," she said. "And the fact they haven't caught the guy means he could still be there.

"It doesn't seem like a serious attack, but I do think (police) should tell the students as well since we all live right beside the trails."

Kayli Clark, 23, also said she would have liked to have known about the attack earlier.

Interviewed with her friend Keir Maguire, 24, after conquering a set of stairs on the trail where the attack occurred, she said: "(If) I found out after the fact that someone had been attacked here, maybe yesterday, and people knew about it and chose not to tell me? I would have been pretty upset."

The April 1 attack occurred near the Museum of Anthropology between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. when the student jogger was approached by an aboriginal male who asked her for the time, Thiessen said in a news release.

"The aboriginal male suddenly grabbed her and threw her to the ground," he said. "The suspect quickly left the scene on foot."

The young woman suffered minor scrapes to her knee as a result of being thrown to the ground. She was not sexually assaulted or robbed and no weapons were seen, he said.

"The motive for the assault is unknown at this time."

Thiessen said there is so far no reason to believe there is a link between the recent assault, which happened near Wreck Beach, several kilometres away from where Wendy Ladner-Beaudry was murdered four years ago.

At an April 3 Integrated Homicide Investigative Team news conference in the park, Ladner-Beaudry's family members spoke out, asking the public for new tips into the brutal attack that left her lying on a trail suffering from blunt-force trauma.

Thiessen said IHIT is aware of the latest incident and will continue to follow developments.

"At this point, we haven't got any reason to believe that it is connected," Thiessen said. "However, IHIT is fully aware and information is being exchanged."

The suspect in the recent attack is described as in his early to mid-20s, about five foot 10 with a heavy build, medium skin tone and short black hair.

He had a round face, brown eyes and black round-framed glasses. He was wearing a black shirt with a white circular logo, baggy blue jeans and shoes.

"We are asking for the public's assistance in identifying this suspect," Thiessen said. "The public is reminded to remain vigilant concerning their safety when out jogging or walking in any park in the Lower Mainland, especially after dark."

Recent sociology graduate Elizabeth Milino, 21, said she jogs two or three times a week and doesn't go into forested areas around the UBC campus unless she's with at least one other person.

"Running down the road I feel a lot more comfortable — there's a lot more traffic, and people traffic as well," Milino said, when stopped near the area of the recent attack. "Whereas going down to the beach there's usually maybe two or three other people."

Thiessen said UBC detachment officers have been conducting "enhanced and directed patrols in the area of the assault along with our security partners responsible for public safety within the park."

Anyone with information regarding this incident or the identity of the suspect is asked to call Const. Kevin McCarthy of the University RCMP at 604-224-1322.

With files from Mike Hager, Vancouver Sun

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Student assaulted while jogging in Pacific Spirit Regional Park

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